St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-12-03

in the swimming bladder, they are found
almost invariably at the surface, going
down with seeming difficulty. In the
waters of the Gulf of Mexico have often
seen them dart away, cleaving the water
like an arrow, and travelling several hun
dred feet before they again entered it,
These were small specimens, not
over six or eight inches in length;
but in the South Pacific they are
found three or four times as large,
and in this case their leaping power
becomes dangerous habit to the natives
The officers of the British exploring ship
Challenger were told by the natives that
individuals had been killed by them;
the fishes becoming alarmed and darting
away over the water, blindly striking
man and impaling him as with an arrow.
Such an occurrence was considered be-
You'd the bounds of reason, but one day,
as boat was being rowed ashore, fish,
alarmed by another boat, darted out of
the water and struck an officer fairly
in the head, nearly stunning him. The
beak of the fish hit the brass ornament
upon the cap, and thus a serious if not
fatal wound was prevented. 1t was
found later that the natives in collecting
coral were often wounded and indeed
sometimes killed by them.
AS regards activity in leaping the
salmon is remarkable, making perpen-
dicular leaps of considerable height in
its attempts to reach high water. In the
rivers of our great Northwestern coun-
try the finest displays of its powers are
seen. Here at times these fishes mass
| into the mouths of rivers in such num-
beers that it has been said that plank
could be laid over their backs and used
as bridge. This sounds like fish
story in more senses than one, yet it has
been done in Russian river, where the
| sturgeon fairly packed the stream and
wedged themselves in, in solid mass.
One of the most agile fish out of the
water is the famous tarpon, or the silver
king of southern waters. Until within q
! few years the fish has been comparatively
unknown to sportsmen; but now 1t
| constitutes an attraction that draws
many lovers of the rod and fly to the
region of Tampa and beyond every
winter. The tarpon is without doubt
the most magnificent of fishes. Ad-
| iectiyes would have to be invented to
convey an adequate idea of it's beauties
as it rises from the water and shakes its
massive jaw, and ouivers in the
sunlight, a mass of cleaning, scin-
| tillating silver. Imagine a fish eight
or nine feet long, resembling in
shape herring, with scales as large as
silver dollar, each presenting the appear
ance of having been covered with molten
silver, and some idea of the appearance
of this superb creature may be realized.
An extraordinary instance of leaping
was observed by friend of the writer
in a Florida river few years ago. His
Yacht was headed up a small river that
gradually narrowed as 1t proceeded.
| Shortly it became evident that a school
of fish was being driven before them,
and some individuals began to leave the
water At first they would clear two or
three feet, but becoming more and
more alarmed, they made greater
exertions, and in few moments the
Yacht was literally bombarded with
pompinoes. They left the water in twos
and threes, bounding eight or ten feet,
then striking and sliding forty or fifty
feet. They came aboard the yacht, strik-
ing the sails and sliding upon the deck,
whizzed across like arrows, 80 that the
men Law fat upon the deck to avoid the
bombardment. The cause of this curl
Gus display was that the fish, being
crowded into a small space, had become
demoralized, and took this method of es-
caping-leaving the water in fear and
| terror.
To return to the birds, we find among
them some remarkable flyers under the
water. The penguins especially have so
MANY fish-like characteristics that in the
works of old writers they are described
as part fish and part bird. In point OF
fact, the wings of these strange birds
seem to have been modified into fins, as
thew are little more, being entirely use
less as organs of aerial locomotion"and
mere rudiments of wings, closely covered
with fine scale-like feathers. On land
thew are obviously of little or no use, ex-
cent to assist the birds to founder along,
but in the water they become at once i'm
portant features and valuable locomotive
organs. Few persons seeing flock OF these
birds in the water for the first time would
| consider them as belonging to the feath'
cred tribe. At least two-thirds of the
time they are under water, reappearing
to dive from wave to wave in so tish-like
a manner that even the naturalists of the
Challenger in the South Pacific were
often deceived and considered them
either fishes or porpoises. If watched
beneath the surface, as they have beer
in large tanks, the penguins are seen te
use their wings very much as fins, propel
ling themselves along by them with more
or less speed, so that they may be said tt
literally fly along under water, the mo
tons Of the wings and feet calling tt
mind the fiippers of tn rtle.